A RARE BRONZE FIGURE OF A RECUMBENT BUFFALO, DONG SON CULTUREVietnam, 500 BC to 300 AD. Well cast in a recumbent position with the legs tucked underneath the body, the head raised and flanked by horns, the head and body incised with numerous characteristic spiral designs.Provenance: From the private collection of Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022), who was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy, and the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashionpany with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother’s business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than 60 years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom.Condition: Minor old repairs and fills as generally expected from ancient Dong Son excavations. Some losses, fissures, signs of weathering and erosion, and casting flaws. Overall, still in very good conditionmensurate with age. Fine malachite-green patina with brown encrustations overall.Weight: 394.5 gDimensions: Length 11.8 cmDong Son (named for Dong Son, a village in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam) was a Bronze Age culture in ancient Vietnam centered at the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam from 1000 BC until the first century AD. Vietnamese historians attribute it to the states of Văn Lang and Âu Lạc. Its influence spread to other parts of Southeast Asia, including Maritime Southeast Asia, throughout the first millennium BC. The culture long remained a mystery to western archaeologists, and it was known only through its bronze objects, many of which were taken from burial sites. Dong Son bronze objects were exhibited in Europe for a century before their original location was even determined, and several theories and speculations over the dating methodologies of the culture continue to this day.Literatureparison:Compare a related elephant-shaped vessel with similar spiral designs, 16 cm long, dated 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD, in the Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, accession number 2007-56439.Auction resultparison:Type: RelatedAuction: Christie’s London, 30 January 2019, lot 149Price: GBP 5,250 or approx.EUR 7,200 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: Four Cambodian Dong Son buffalo bells, Battambang province, probably 300 BC-300 ADExpert remark:pare the related spiral decorations and curled horns東山文化罕見銅牛擺件越南，公元前500至公元300年。臥牛雙腿夾在身體下方，頭部抬起，兩側有角，頭部和身體表面有許多典型的螺旋圖案。